“HOUSE SPEAKER Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered an excellent demonstration yesterday of why members of Congress should not attempt to supplant the secretary of state when traveling abroad. After a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that "Israel was ready to engage in peace talks" with Syria. What's more, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to "resume the peace process" as well. Having announced this seeming diplomatic breakthrough, Ms. Pelosi suggested that her Kissingerian shuttle diplomacy was just getting started. "We expressed our interest in using our good offices in promoting peace between Israel and Syria," she said.

“Only one problem: The Israeli prime minister entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such message. "What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel," said a statement quickly issued by the prime minister's office. In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that "a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel." In other words, Ms. Pelosi not only misrepresented Israel's position but was virtually alone in failing to discern that Mr. Assad's words were mere propaganda.”

“We can thank the US speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for having informed Syrian President Bashar Assad, from Beirut, that "the road to solving Lebanon's problems passes through Damascus." Now, of course, all we need to do is remind Pelosi that the spirit and letter of successive United Nations Security Council resolutions, as well as Saudi and Egyptian efforts in recent weeks, have been destined to ensure precisely the opposite: that Syria end its meddling in Lebanese affairs.”

Amazing how much stupidity she manages to cram into one trip!

How did a fool like Pelosi ever manage to rise so high??!

There is more than enough evidence here to impeach Pelosi on treason charges. There are also other possible charges:

“The Logan Act makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, "without authority of the United States," to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government's behavior on any "disputes or controversies with the United States." Some background on this statute helps to understand why Ms. Pelosi may be in serious trouble.”

Meanwhile, this adds to the list of recent Democratic Congressional corruption linked above. It seems Feinstein siphoned off billions of dollars of military funding to her husband’s companies while she was chairman of the military appropriations sub-committee. She has resigned, but as she’s a Democrat, it looks like that’s going to be the extent of her fall from grace.

This must be that “culture of corruption” thing Pelosi and Reid pretended to be against in order to gain control of Congress.

“ABC News has learned Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi plans to visit Syria next week to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The visit will make Pelosi the most senior U.S. official ever to meet with President Assad.”
—
“Pelosi's visit to Syria would come as the United States has severed high-level contacts with Assad's government. The administration recalled the U.S. ambassador to Damascus after the February 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri in Lebanon. There has been very little high- or mid-level U.S. contact with Syria since then.”

Things in Iraq remain messy, but the savages continue to be gradually pushed back:

“On March 21, U.S. troops from the 82nd Airborne Division captured the leader and the second in command of the deadly Adhamiyah cell, which is believed to be responsible for the murder of 900 Iraqis and the wounding of another 1,950. The cell is believed to be responsible for the majority of the major suicide and truck bombs inside Sadr City.„ -- Roggio round up of Iraq news for the 27th

“As of last September, the leadership of 25 of the 31 Anbari tribes were cooperating with the government, while 6 tribes, know in some military intelligence circles as "The Sinister Six," were aligned with al Qaeda. Two of the Sinister Six are the Albu Issa and the al-Zuba'a.

“The Iraqi government, the Coalition and the Anbar Salvation Council are actively working to split off the Albu Issa and the al-Zuba'a from al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq. The efforts are showing progress. The Albu Issa are turning on al Qaeda in the Fallujah region, while the al-Zuba'a, which have a strong presence in Abu Ghraib, Zaidon and Fallujah, have begun to fight al Qaeda, along with the 1920s Revolution Brigades.” -- Roggio round up of the war between Al-Qaeda and the Sunni civilians of Anbar

Bush’s surge is not expected to be fully underway until at least summer. Meanwhile the effects are being felt on the streets of Iraq. So much so that even the fossil media are having trouble hiding the reality from the long confused America public:-

“About 3,000 Mahdi fighters are said to be "financed directly by Iran and no longer loyal" to Sadr. The splinter Mahdi forces have "crossed into Iran for training by the elite Quds force." Qais al-Khazaal, a former aide of Sadr, is said to be leading the faction.“

Note that the Iranian dictators have long tried to claim that the arming, training and funding of both the Madhi Army and Al-Qaeda-in-Iraq by their Qods forces [sometimes spelt “Quds”] are the actions of a few not under control of the government.

Now we see 3000 fighters imported into Iran for training. And we are supposed to believe this is out of the control or knowledge of the government?!

“[...] What makes this so bizarre are Bush's private views on energy and
oil, as reflected in the various ecologically friendly decisions he
has made at his own ranch in Crawford (it uses geothermal heat pumps,
and has a 25,000 gallon underground cistern to collect rainwater), and
in this passage from his speechwriter David Frum's book The Right Man:

“ I once made the mistake of suggesting to Bush that he use the phrase
cheap energy to describe the aims of his energy policy. He gave me a
sharp, squinting look, as if he were trying to decide whether I was
the stupidest person he'd heard from all day or only one of the top
five. Cheap energy, he answered, was how we had got into this mess.
Every year from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s, American cars burned
less and less oil per mile travelled. Then in about 1995 that progress
stopped. Why? He answered his own question: because of the
gas-guzzling SUV. And what had made the SUV possible? This time I
answered. 'Um, cheap energy?' He nodded at me. Dismissed.

“ More or less the only conclusion one can draw from that under-reported
passage is that W. is well aware of the realities but has been
knowingly acting as a stooge for the oil industry. He is not alone. It
is shocking to learn from George Monbiot's book Heat just how
systematic the oil lobby has been about spreading a smokescreen of
doubt around the question of climate change. The techniques in play
were learned by the tobacco lobby in the course of the fights over
smoking and health. 'Doubt is our product since it is the best means
of competing with the "body of fact" that exists in the minds of the
general public,' an internal memo from one tobacco company states. 'It
is also the best means of establishing a controversy.' Or, as the
Republican pollster Frank Luntz put it in a memo to party activists
during W.'s first midterms, 'Should the public come to believe that
the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming
will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the
lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate.' Oil money
and tobacco money have gone to bodies such as the Competitive
Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the
Hudson Institute, the Frontiers of Freedom Institute, the Reason
Foundation and the Independent Institute. Exxon, in particular, is a
great one for sponsoring climate-denying websites and lobby groups.

“This policy has been remarkably effective. While the peer-reviewed
science on global warming is overwhelming - a 2004 survey in Science
showed that of the 928 peer-reviewed papers on the subject, 'none of
the papers disagreed with the consensus position' - the balance in the
media has been split almost 50-50 between the scientific evidence on
the one hand and 'sceptics' on the other. On Monbiot's account, the
BBC has recently woken up to the way in which it was 'fooled by these
people', which is good news if it is true; but the corporation has
hitherto been weak-minded about its reporting of climate change. The
ideology of balance has led it to include the 'other side' of a debate
which has, among scientists, only one side; a recent highlight was an
appearance by Nigel Lawson on Newsnight, arguing, or 'arguing', as
follows: 'the whole science is extremely uncertain - that is well
known to anybody who has studied it.' ”

congressional democrats turn to bribery and corruption in their ongoing attempts to lose in iraq - the auroran sunset

The Democratic Party regained Congress on a platform of attacking the rampant “culture of corruption” perpetrated by the Republican-controlled Congress. As was heavily suspected before the November 2006 mid-term election, the Democratic Party leadership has now proved themselves to have been lying when they said that they would clean up that corruption - see the end section for details.

All that corruption, however, pales in comparison to what is currently taking place in Congress.

The Democratic Party leadership have catagorically stated that they will not try to de-fund the troops, as their moonbats are pushing.

Murtha and others in the Democratic Party leadership are instead pushing a strategy termed “slow bleed”.

The openly-stated aim of slow bleed is to progressively make military operations in Iraq impossible - and so force a defeat from the jaws of steady progress - while avoiding responsibility for that defeat.

Slow bleed is to work by hamstringing the Iraq operations with seemingly reasonable requirements. These requirements include making deployment illegal unless troops are trained to an unpractical level. These requirements include making deployment illegal unless the troops have all of their equipment already before they leave the US, despite the fact that a large part of their equipment is usually provided when the troops arrive in the Gulf.

These conditions are being put into the above funding bill, in order that the Democrats can claim to be voting for funding, and thus “supporting”, the United States in its fight against the savages that are attempting to destroy Iraq.

Unsurprisingly, many in Congress are not happy to vote for this functionally treasonous slow bleed strategy.

As Cheney correctly states, the Democratic Party leadership’s attempts to force America out of Iraq precisely mirrors the aims of the Al Qaeda and Iranian enemies we are currently warring against in Iraq, and worldwide.

In other words, Democratic Party leadership is attempting to bribe American politicians on behalf of our foreign enemies’ war aims. That is they are using corruption to forward treason.

Meanwhile, here are two items from Iraq. One showing that success is possible and that progress is happening. The other highlights the barbarity of the savages on whose behalf the Democratic Party leadership are attempting to bribe US politicians.

A longish item on the growing success of the Iraqi Kurdistan. Read it in full. What Totten describes is what is being gradually worked toward across Iraq. It is what the Democratic Party leadership seems determined will never happen.

“During a suicide attack Sunday, a car with two adults and two children made it through a checkpoint and was subsequently blown up near a market in Adamiya. "Children in the back seat, lower suspicion, we let it move through," said Major General Michael Barbero during a press briefing yesterday. "They park the vehicle, the adults run out and detonate it with the children in the back... the brutality and ruthless nature of this enemy hasn't changed."

“Sadly, this is not a new tactic. Al Qaeda has used children in suicide strikes in the past. In perhaps one of the most egregious exploitation of children, al Qaeda turned a child with Downs Syndrome into a suicide bomber during the January 2005 election.”

In the Senate, Speaker Harry Reid successfully blocked his own party’s Bill from the House of Representatives pushing for transparency in spending bills. The bill would have forced pork earmark sponsors to be named, and hopefully shamed. Reid has been involved in a number of highly shady property dealings. Here is a detailed description of just one example.

Meanwhile in the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has demonstrated repeatedly that she has no interest in stopping corruption. Here are a few examples of her early acts since reaching power:-

Pelosi tried unsuccessful to promote John Murtha to Leader of the House. Murtha is one of the top pork earmarkers in Congress and is heavily implicated in AbScam.

Pelosi successful placed Alcee Hastings as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Hastings was impeached by Congress when he was caught conspiring to take bribes as a federal judge.

Pelosi appointed William Jefferson to the Homeland Security Committee. Jefferson is currently under investigation by the FBI on bribery charges. Jefferson is on video taking a $100,000 bribe, $90,000 of which was found in hidden in his home freezer.

Pelosi appointed Alan Mollohan as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee for Science, State, Justice, Commerce and Related Agencies. The committee controls the Justice Department’s budget, which includes the FBI budget. Mollohan is under current FBI investigation for financial corruption.

“ "But when you look at this history, and add to it the fact that my
wife and I are white, and "professional" (if you call journalism a
"profession", which you shouldn't), it is clear that we have damaged
our children's life-chances merely by giving birth to them at all.
Later, we compounded our lack of proper care by sending them to
excellent private schools.

“ "One thing about being middle-class, though, is that it makes you
ever-resourceful, and cunning about form-filling. I hope to construct
our own reverse verblankingsproces [whitening process] to get round New Labour's class
apartheid.

“ "We live in a rural area, which could also, at a stretch, be called
coastal and, at a greater stretch - it is half an hour from the
nearest Sainsbury's - remote. The WP [Widening Participation] tsars might be persuaded to hear
this as a plea in mitigation for our being highly educated.

“Perhaps we should quickly take our children out of their schools and
put them in what Alastair Campbell once called a "bog-standard
comprehensive". Perhaps we should get divorced. I could marry a
non-graduate black and refuse to pay my ex-wife, now a single mother,
any maintenance. That would make our children's background look less
shameful." ”

As those of you still paying attention to the fossil media and the moonbats in Congress know, Iraq is a disaster from which we must pre-emptively withdraw before people notice it isn’t really a disaster it gets any worse.

Meanwhile, here are a few news items from the last week or two:-

Despite that most of the extra soldiers are still not yet deployed, the surge is getting results:

“Yesterday marked the first full month since the official commencement of the Baghdad Security Plan. During joint press conference with Major General William Caldwell Brigadier General Qassim Atta Al Mussawi, the Iraqi Army spokesman for the Baghdad security operation, noted the dramatic reduction in violence over the past month. According to Mussawi, over the past month, deaths are down by about 75 percent, terrorists killed up by over 80 percent and detentions of suspects up by 1000 percent”

Sadr has fled the country and is holed up with his Iranian sponsors; his calls for resistance to the ‘occupation’ by the Iraqi government are more and more falling on deaf ears. Sadr’s Madhi Army, desperate to halt their steady dismantlement by the legitimate authorities, have even tried unsuccessfully to assassinate the mayor of Sadr City.

Al Qaeda is being taken apart in Al-Anbar province. As happened last year in Al-Anbar, the Sunni tribes in Diyala - where the large parts of Al Qaeda have fled following the Baghdad security crackdown - are organising against Al Qaeda in support of the elected government and their US-backed helpers. Now that their programs to intimidate the Sunni victim populations from which they operate are starting to fall apart, the behaviour of Al Qaeda begins to look ever more frantic as they resort to chemical weapons.

Displaced families, driven from their homes by Sadr’s thugs, continue to return home en masse, and reopen their businesses.

“In this combat zone, the US's belated surge is working, burying insurgent and terrorists video under an avalanche of US military-shot video, with recent Iraq-focused US military posts on LiveLeak outnumbering insurgent and terrorists posts by at least a 10-1 margin.”

Back in the USA, the “let’s abandon the Iraqis” crowd are facing growing opposition. On the fourth anniversary of the start of the liberation of Iraq from a murderous socialist dictator, the usual moonbat squads took to the streets. Unlike previous occasions, their numbers were matched by those of counter-protesters:

“As war protesters marched toward Arlington Memorial Bridge en route to the Pentagon yesterday, they were flanked by long lines of military veterans and others who stood in solidarity with U.S. troops and the Bush administration's cause in Iraq. Many booed loudly as the protesters passed, turned their backs to them or yelled, "If you don't like America, get out!"

“The vets turned both sides of Constitution into a bitter, charged gauntlet for the war protesters. "Jihadists!" some vets screamed. "You're brain-dead!" Others chanted, "Workers World traitors must hang!" -- a reference to the Communist newspaper [ab.org: Workers World are a primary organiser/sponsor of this march as they have been of hundreds of others.]. Some broke into "The Star-Spangled Banner" as war protesters sought to hand out pamphlets.”

Apparently the final straw for the patriots was the vandalisation of the Capitol and War Memorial by the moonbats on previous marches.

But don’t forget that Iraq is “slipping into civil war”, “a quagmire” and “hopeless cause”, etc..

“It was decided, by a four-one majority, that the pair, who spent more
than 12 years in jail for a murder they did not commit, must pay the
"living expenses" they incurred in prison and which have been deducted
from their compensation package. The law lords said the deduction,
which amounted to around £50,000 each, should not be seen as board and
lodging, but as expenses they would have had to pay from their
earnings if they had been free.

“The dissenting judge, Lord Rodger, likened the men's ordeal to a
"prolonged kidnapping"; and the Hickeys' solicitor, Susie Labinjoh,
said that the decision "offends against justice" - but, unless a
challenge succeeds in Europe, it will stand. The Hickeys are only two
of many who were victims of miscarriages of justice who have
effectively had to pay for their porridge. Paddy Hill, one of the
Birmingham Six, who was also wrongfully jailed, has been campaigning
vigorously to halt these deductions, which are made for prisoners
wrongly convicted in England and Wales but not in Scotland.”

“RMI researchers soon found ways to improve an attractive family car to several hundred mpg - ultimately enough to cross the US on one tank of fuel (0.8-1.6/100km). And to their astonishment, the car could be so much simpler, and its manufacturing so much easier than stamping, welding and painting steel, that it could end up costing about the same as today's cars - perhaps even less.”
—
“In April 1994, a University of Western Washington student team had a two-passenger Corvette-sized light hybrid car tested by the US Department of Energy in Los Angeles traffic. It got the equivalent of 202mpg (1.16l/100km). In autumn 1994, RMI's research director chaired a 3-day international conference in Aachen on his ultralight-hybrid concept, now called the 'hypercar'. A small Swiss firm, ESORO, displayed a four-passenger light hybrid car rated at about 100 mpg-equivalent (2.4l/100km). Distinguished practitioners brought much exciting news, including a fourfold drop in the price of carbon fibre in the past 2 years - to levels that could undercut steel as an auto-body material at any production volume.”

Despite these working models for >100mpg cars more than ten years ago, and more than ten further years technological advance, we’re still stuck with cars that only do 20, 40 or 60mpg, depending on whether they are petrol, hybrid or diesel.

This is a public scandal and disgrace.
Where is the innovation from the major car makers?
Where is the market solving the problem, as the market fundamentalists say is possible?
Where is the clearly neccessary regulation?

It is not just the ludicrous US fuel inefficiencies that are disgraceful. My 60mpg European diesel is quite as scandalous.

There is no technological reason why all new cars from 2008 can not have >100mpg. Why is the industry not being forced to clean up their act? Why are you allowing the car industry to subsidise the filthy fossil fuel industry with your money?

The market fundamentalists and carbon club shills suggest that gaining efficiency and shucking off the fossil fuel industry will be hugely expensive and technically difficult. They are talking through their hats.

“Russia signaled sharp dissatisfaction yesterday with Iran's defiant
stance on nuclear issues, declaring that the start-up of a
Russian-built nuclear reactor will be delayed and warning that Moscow
will not join Tehran "in anti-American games."
—
“Iran's defiance of the International Atomic Energy Agency has caused
Russia to suffer "losses in relation to its foreign policy and image,
but they insist on their line," the anonymous official said, as quoted
by Itar-Tass.

“ "Iran with a nuclear bomb or a potential for its creation is
impermissible for us," the official said. "We will not play with them
in anti-American games. . . . The Iranians are abusing our
constructive attitude and have done nothing to help us convince our
colleagues of Tehran's consistency." ”

raving pr nonsense from the eu on energy - you are being lied to by bliar and his mates

All over the fossil media are ‘reports’ of the wondrous
‘success’ of the recent EU gathering. How many aeroplane trips was that?! [See timesonline.co.uk and a rash of others.]

“Any reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is ambitious, Merkel said.
The Kyoto Protocol demands that the European Union cut CO2 emissions
by eight percent between 1990 and 2012, over a period of 22 years.
—
“By the beginning of 2007, the EU had managed to achieve 1.2 percent of
the eight percent reduction agreed under the Kyoto Protocol.” [Quoted from
ens-newswire.com
]

That is, after 17 years, they’ve cut 1.2% of the 8% they ‘promised’ to meet
by 2012 - in five years time!

“The climate protection goal adopted tonight would require the EU to
cut emissions by a further 12 percent between 2012 and 2020, within
only eight years.”

That is, now they’re ‘promising’ a further 12% on top of the 8% they
haven’t come near to meeting.

There are deliberate attempts to confuse ‘emission’ with energy
cuts.

During recent years, the West is also increasingly exporting the
pollution (manufacturing) to the third world. The third world is far more inefficient in energy use
for manufacturing. Thus, the reality is that despite mass exportation of energy use to the
third world, European reductions of CO2 pollution are still only down by a mere 1%
over seventeen years.

Anyone who believes they are serious, or will come anywhere near their pretend
targets, is being fooled.

Meanwhile, the only way to have serious effects on reducing CO2 emissions is
nuclear power. Half of Europe is in thrall to watermelons who are blocking nuclear power.

Despite the posturing, wind and photovoltaic power have shown no clear
indication they can even contribute above 5-10% of electricity production; and keep in mind that
electricity production is about 40% of base energy usage.

Meanwhile, no bio-fuel has yet been shown to be clearly carbon
neutral, let alone contributory. Further, bio-fuels are currently in direct coompetition with
food production, and threatening clear cutting of virgin forest.

“Chirac underlined that France, which is a major user of nuclear
power, had lower carbon dioxide emission levels than Germany.

“The French leader's comments came as 27 EU leaders struggled to clinch
a landmark climate change pact, including measures to increase use of
renewable energy and cut CO2 emissions.

“The 27-nation bloc is badly split over German Chancellor Angela
Merkel's call for governments to agree a mandatory target of 20 per
cent for increasing the share of renewable energy use in overall EU
energy consumption by 2020. Renewable energy currently accounts for 7
per cent of EU energy usage.

“Germany is current president of the EU.

“Backing the French line on nuclear power, Czech Prime Minister Mirek
Topolanek said that 'nuclear energy has been one of the most important
carbon-free energy sources contributing to reducing emissions of
greenhouse gases.'

“ 'As the price of nuclear energy does not depend on oil prices and no
uranium shortages are foreseen...nuclear energy significantly
contributes to the security of supply in the EU,' he said.” [Quoted from monstersandcritics.com]

Merkel only controls power with the support of lefties and
watermelons.The price for that support
is foolish opposition to nuclear power.

Germany is heavily subsidising wind
and photovoltaic power, while France is the biggest percentage user of clean, safe nuclear power in the world
(approximately 80%).

‘Germany’ is attempting to force ‘renewable’ (but currently
ineffectual) energy substitutes on the EU. But, of course, as the French and Czechs are correctly saying,
the countries using nuclear power are, in general, much more carbon clean.

“The comments come just weeks after British Energy called for external
investors to help to fund its investment in what is likely to be a Â£30
billion nuclear programme over the coming years.” [Quoted from timesonline.co.uk]

“The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Thursday the first site
in over 30 years that could eventually house a new nuclear power
plant, but the United States is still far away from breaking ground on
any new reactors.” [Quoted from planetark.org]

Here’s some good sense for a change.

“ "Europe's approach to alternative fuel sources like biofuels has
been to promote them regardless of whether or not they're good for the
environment", said Jos Dings of T&E. "EU leaders should scrap the
biofuel target and instead go for the lifecycle greenhouse gas
approach the Commission has proposed in its January review of the Fuel
Quality Directive."

“ "This approach requires fuel suppliers actually to improve their
climate performance, rather than just blending in a product with
uncertain environmental consequences," said Dings.” [Quoted from ens-newswire.com]

The UK socialist government is suggesting that a lottery is used to enable children from outside the catchment area of a popular school to enrol and attend that school.

A major element in a less bad school is a catchment area of reasonably affluent, and therefore disciplined ‘families’.

So let’s have a lottery.

Expected outcomes:

First result:
The reliability of the effects of the catchment rule will be undermined.
So, children from disciplined (wealthier/capable) families will be sent to more disordered schools,
while children from less disciplined families will be injected into better ordered schools.

I’ll let you guess what the outcome will be. Do you suppose you will end up
with ‘better’ schools? Do you suppose you will end with a net improvement in behaviour?

Second result:
The marvellous socialist engineering has resulted in large premiums having been
attached to houses in desirable catchment areas.

Thus the next stage of socialist manipulation is going to result in
windfall changes in house values.

Third result:
This also threatens to be a massive ecological disaster if extended throughout the country, with tens of millions of unnecessarily extended car journeys. Once again, this indicates real government objectives, rather than their pseudo-green propaganda.

Is there a basis for legal claims against the government here??

Only by breaking the power of the government cartel and the teachers’
unions will you improve this situation.

And that means vouchers.

Do you suppose any socialist government will put power into the
hands of consumers?